


should've known better

by hachimitsuto



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Dates, Crack Treated Seriously, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-17 23:02:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18974230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hachimitsuto/pseuds/hachimitsuto
Summary: For the record, Mark is not in love with Jaehyun. They are bros, and bros don’t have feelings for each others. Or do they?





	should've known better

**Author's Note:**

> [thank you for my life](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-KIVBYWPEs)  
>    
> ∙ this entire fic is a JOKE please do not take it seriously  
> ∙ i'd like to thank sapphy for the inspiration and yaine for the moral boost

“So I’ve got this one friend,” Mark begins in his best attempt at nonchalance. “And he's got this upperclassman—totally nice, totally hot—and they’re bros. They hang out often on campus, like study together, grab lunch, talk—you know, _bros_ . But then one day, this upperclassman asked m— him, I mean my friend, out.” He pauses. “Not _that_ kind of asking someone out! More like, invitation to hang out, but outside of campus.”

He picks out a slice of cucumber from his sandwich and continues. “And so they went out. It was okay, totally normal. But halfway it just suddenly dawned on m— my friend that it was a date course. Like a romantic date, between a boy and a girl, or a boy and another boy, or a girl and another girl, whatever, but a _date_ ." He makes sure to put emphasis on the word date. “So I— my friend started panicking, internally, like, _‘Is this a date? It can’t be a date, right? Nobody mentioned the word date so it’s definitely not a date. It’s a bro to bro hang out, right?’_ And then the whole thing just went awkward. At least for him. I don’t know about the other guy. But it was awkward.”

He turns to Donghyuck at last. “Do you think it was a date?”

Donghyuck exhales a heavy sigh and puts down his Milkis before turning to look at Mark in the eye. “Did this upperclassman dude plan the whole thing, like time and place and what they did that day?”

Mark nods dumbly while chewing his food. “Yes.”

“Did they go to see a movie or do some artsy thing at a workshop or a store?”

“Uh... kinda? They went to an art exhibition and catch a musical.”

“Did they go have dinner at a nice restaurant?”

“If you think Burger King is a nice restaurant, then yeah?”

“Did your friend, despite his worries, have a good time? Is he looking forward to another?”

“Uh, maybe.”

Donghyuck gives Mark a pat on the shoulder. “Then congratulations, it was a date. Who’s this unfortunate upperclassman du— wait, I know who it is. It’s Jung Jaehyun, isn’t it?”

Mark drops his sandwich.

  
  
  
  
  


For the record, Mark is _not_ in love with Jaehyun. They are bros, and bros don’t have feelings for each others. Having feelings for each other means they can’t be bros anymore, and Mark doesn’t want that. He likes Jaehyun, in a bro way, of course. Jaehyun is nice, buys him lunch sometimes and tells him jokes, even if they’re not always funny. In fact they’re rarely funny, but the point here is that Jaehyun is a nice guy, and Mark likes him.

More importantly, even if Mark does like Jaehyun not in a bro way, it doesn’t matter because Jaehyun definitely doesn’t like him in a non-bro way. Having feelings sucks, and he’d rather not make things more complicated than they already are.

  
  
  
  
  


What happened was:

They went out. It’s not like they never did, but usually it’s more of chilling at the library or the common area or some cheap hole in the wall restaurants. Totally normal and nothing to lie in the bed to think about all night.

Last night, however, they took a slightly different route.

It started when Jaehyun found Mark sitting by himself at the cafeteria. He's not sure if it was out of pity or something he'd already decided to do even if he hadn't seen him, but Jaehyun suddenly asked: “Have you been to the art center?”

He hadn't. It turned out there's an exhibition that Jaehyun had been wanting to see, and he never found time and someone willing to go with him, since it's all the way on the other side of the city. Mark's always wanted to see one, and he had nothing better to do anyways, so he said yes.

In all honesty, he didn't think much of it and genuinely thought of it as a regular hang out, or in his own words, a bro to bro date, with emphasis on the word bro instead of date. It wasn’t until they left the musical, which they went to after the exhibition, when he noticed the subtle hint of pink colouring Jaehyun’s cheeks, and thought it was cute.

And Mark was horrified as soon he found himself thinking that. After all, Jaehyun was his bro, and bros don't actually find each other cute, do they?

To make matters worse, when Mark looked around, everyone else seemed to be there with their partners. Not partners for a lab project or presentation, but romantic partners—couples, who kiss and stuff.

 _Oh my god_ , Mark had thought. He must have thought it out loud because Jaehyun had turned to him and raised his brows. “You said something?”

“Uh,” Mark panicked. “I was thinking about the musical.”

“Oh.” Jaehyun nodded, grabbing his cup and brought the straw to his lips to take a sip. Mark was staring at them when he asked: “What was your favourite part?”

The panic doubled. If he were to be slightly honest, Mark never quite understands anything literature. He only barely managed to pass English thanks to his _No Fear Shakespeare!_ reference book, which was passed down to him from Jungwoo, who got it from Jaehyun himself. But if Mark were to be completely honest, he had no recollection of the musical because he was actually distracted the whole time.

“Uh,” he tried again. “The last one?” Mark offered, hoping that Jaehyun wouldn't ask to elaborate more. And thankfully, he didn't. Mark plucks a fry from the tray along with some courage. "What's yours?"

Jaehyun looked surprised by the question, for some reason, like he wasn’t expecting it despite asking the same one just a minute ago. “Same,” he answered after blinking too many times. “The last part.”

“Oh,” Mark said, not knowing how to react. “That part was good, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Jaehyun nodded, blinking repeatedly again. “Yeah, it was good.”

When Jaehyun picked up his hamburger again, Mark noticed that his ears had turned red, and thought it was the cutest shit ever.

 _Shit_ , he mentally cursed, one hand on his mouth in case he said it out loud again. He looks at Jaehyun again, who’s now looking at his phone. The screen gave a nice glow on his face, and for a second Mark almost picked up his own phone to snap a photo because this was the perfect boyfriend shot that people always raved about.

 _Shit_ , he thought again. Maybe he’s truly screwed.

  
  
  
  
  


He manages to avoid Jaehyun for four straight days and tells himself it’s not intentional. How can it be intentional when they don’t live in the same dormitory block and don’t take the same lectures?

“I don’t care what lies you’re feeding, but the only person you’re fooling is yourself, Mark Lee,” says Donghyuck sagely as he points his chopsticks at Mark like the rude little shit he is. Mark winces but pretends to be unaffected as he continues drinking his Coke.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says pointedly, not meeting Donghyuck’s eyes.

“I’ll tell you what,” Donghyuck begins, casually taking a fried mandu from Mark’s tray before shoving it into his mouth. He takes time chewing it so Mark has to wait for the rest of his sentence. “Instead of avoiding your problem like this, you should face it," he finally continues after a whole 30 second. “Look it dead in the eye and actually try to solve it.”

“What are you suggesting?” Mark asks defeatedly, sounding tired.

“Go on another date with him.”

  
  
  
  
  


Even though Donghyuck is full of bullshit, he does come up with good ideas every now and then.

It’s still easier said than done, though. There are several holes in the plan, instances where things can go wrong. For example, what if Mark goes on another da— _bro_ hang out, and discovers that what he feels about Jaehyun is not how a bro normally feels about another bro? Wouldn’t that backfire him entirely?

There’s also one big loophole in this plan: he can’t seem to find Jaehyun.

Despite what Mark tried to convince himself, he and Jaehyun do run into each other often enough, every other day at least if not everyday. Mark’s attempt to avoid Jaehyun had turned out to be unnecessary because he actually hadn’t seen Jaehyun anywhere. Which is weird now that he thinks about it. Is Jaehyun off campus?

Mark is at the library contemplating asking around for Jaehyun’s room number without sounding creepy when he hears someone calling his name. When he whips his head around, he finds a Sicheng emerging from the book racks, flashing the broadest grin that reveals all his teeth.

“Mark Lee, my dude!” says Sicheng brightly and loudly as he slips into the seat next to Mark. The kids around them throw a dirty look at Mark, even he’s not the one who spoke. Thankfully they’re on the second floor and not anywhere near the librarian’s desk.

“Hey,” replies Mark, trying to ignore _my dude_ part because 1) he is definitely not Sicheng’s dude (homo or no homo), and 2) he’s pretty sure this is only their second time meeting each other. Mark flashes a smile. “What’s up?”

Sicheng is a friend of Jaehyun’s, but unlike Jaehyun, Sicheng never really hangs out with the juniors. Mark goes to church every Sunday and has sat through several elaborate lectures by his mother about finding the good in people. He’s not the type to think badly of others without a good reason, especially people he doesn’t know well enough, but he doesn’t know why Sicheng’s here and he doesn’t quite have a good feeling.

“I heard you went on a da— you went out with Jaehyun the other day?” Sicheng asks, his voice still too loud for the place. Mark fidgets nervously. “How was it?”

“Uh, good?” he offers. “How did you know?”

“Heard from Minghao,” Sicheng supplies, which makes Mark chokes because _he’s never even talked to Minghao before_. “Tell me more about it. What did you guys do?”

Mark pales in his seat. “Uh, I actually need to go,” he lies, grabbing his backpack and the book on the desk. Sicheng seems thoroughly disappointed when Mark apologizes and gets to his feet without answering the question, but then Mark asks: “Do you happen to know where I can find Jaehyun?”

Sicheng’s face immediately brightens. “I can tell you his room number.”

  
  
  
  
  


Mark doesn’t end up going to Jaehyun’s room. No, that’s too weird. But he does run into him just outside the dorm when he pretends to be there to look for Yukhei, who doesn’t actually live on campus.

“Hey, listen,” he goes straight to the point before he chickens out or this situation turns even more awkward than it already is. “Donghyuck just gave me extra tickets for Detective Pikachu. He’s already seen it. I haven’t. Do you want to go?” He leaves out the ‘ _with me_ ’ just in case. He’s also lying about the extra tickets part, because Donghyuck purposely bought the tickets for him so he could invite Jaehyun. Talk about having a great friend.

Jaehyun raises his brows. “Detective Pikachu?”

“It’s fine if you’re not interested. I can just go ask someone els—”

“I’ll go,” Jaehyun quickly interrupts, like he’s worried that Mark would change his mind.

Mark blinks. “Oh.” Blinks again. “Okay. Cool. Thanks. I guess I’ll see you?”

He’s turning around to leave when Jaehyun calls him, and he immediately worries that Jaehyun’s the one changing his mind now. “You need to tell me when and where?”

“Oh right!” Mark realizes too late. In his life, he’s faced a number of situations that made him feel stupid, but none of those situations made him feel as stupid as he does now. “Of course. Hahaha. It's this Saturday, 5pm. At COEX.”

Jaehyun flashes his dimples. “Okay, cool. I’ll see you there.”

  
  
  
  
  


Okay, maybe Mark is slightly disappointed that they’re going to meet at the cinema instead of going there together. Donghyuck had purposely chosen a place that’s completely out of the way so that they can use the commute time to talk. Now the 30 minutes train ride from the campus just feels so dreadfully long and every passing minute just leaves him more anxious than ever.

Jaehyun is already there when Mark arrives, and just the sight of him sitting on one of the benches at the open library with a book in hand waiting for him just sends a strange feeling to his stomach. Wait, butterflies?

Mark doesn’t get to figure out what it is because Jaehyun lifts his gaze right then and sees him. “You’re early,” he says to Mark, like he hadn’t arrived before Mark did.

Mark looks around as Jaehyun puts the book away, and sees a similar view like when they went out the other night — couples everywhere. “Let’s go,” he says hurriedly when Jaehyun returns, tugging Jaehyun’s arm to drag him away.

“Um, Mark?” Jaehyun calls when they’re at the cinema entrance. Mark turns around and blinks at him, and it’s only when Jaehyun nods down at their hands that in the rush, Mark has somehow grabbed Jaehyun’s hand instead of his wrist by mistake.

Mark retracts his own hand in a speed that even Usain Bolt would envy. “Oh, sh— I’m sorry!” he quickly apologizes. The lighting is dim here and Mark’s thankful for that because it hides the fact that his face is flushed red right now. No wonder the old lady was giving him a look when they were taking the escalator just now. He’s suddenly seeing his own life flashing before his own eyes. “There were too many people and I was just—”

“Hey, look, it’s cool. No worries,” Jaehyun just says. “I’ll go get some popcorns.”

The shock still hasn’t worn off so Mark doesn’t say anything and only watches Jaehyun go in silence. He doesn’t know if it’s some kind of a survival instinct, but despite everything, he still manages to somehow dig out his phone and type a quick text message to Donghyuck that says: _i hate u!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

 _?????_ Donghyuck texts back, then follows it up with another text. _is this about ur date?_

Mark offers no answer. _i hate my life_

_ok but do u hate jung jaehyun?_

_no_ , Mark replies, then fake sobs as he buries his face in his hands.

 _fighting_ _♡_

“Are you okay?” asks Jaehyun when he comes back, both hands full with drinks and popcorns.

It takes Mark a few seconds to react. “I’m fine,” he says, nodding too aggressively that it makes him dizzy. Jaehyun stares at him with concern, but Mark quickly plasters another smile on his face. “Uh, I think we can go inside now.”

  
  
  
  
  


Mark makes an excuse to go to the toilet after the movie ends to google the summary and reviews of Detective Pikachu because, to quote his text to Donghyuck before pulling up the browser, _holy shit i couldnt focus on the movie at all???_

It’s not actually his proudest moment, but it’s the only thing he can think of and here is the safest place to do it right now since Jaehyun had already gone to the toilet earlier during the movie. If Mark was to be honest, he actually didn’t think Jaehyun would be that person who would make a toilet trip in the middle of a movie, but the hall was unusually cold and Mark did regret finishing his Coke a little too quickly.

“Were there a lot of people? You were gone for a while,” says Jaehyun when Mark finally joins him where he’s waiting at Subway.

Mark panics. “Oh. Sorry I kept you waiting.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Jaehyun shakes his head. “By the way I ordered your sandwich for you. Italian BMT, no pickles, no cucumbers, mayonnaise and honey mustard, right?”

Mark’s face lights up. “Oh, thanks! How did you know my favourite—” he stops himself mid sentence, mouth hung open, their eyes widened, and both looking away at the same time. _Shit_ , he thinks to himself, then makes a sorry attempt to change the subject. “Did you like the movie?”

Jaehyun nods. “Yeah.” He scratches his cheek. “It was cute.”

Mark is digging his own grave. “Which scene is your favourite?” he asks.

“Uh, remember the scene when Pikachu was sad and he sang the Pokemon theme song?”

Actually, Mark does remember, which is weird because he was sure he remembers nothing about the movie because he spent the entire time trying his best not to look at Jaehyun. Why does he remember this particular scene so vividly? He thinks back, trying to extract more from his memory, and remembers exactly why. “Wait, that scene was when you went out to the toilet?”

Jaehyun chokes and just starts coughing all of a sudden, his eyes watery as Mark offers him his own drink by mistake. “Sorry,” he says when it finally stops. “To be honest I already saw this movie. Last week.”

“What?” It’s Mark who chokes this time, although it’s not as bad. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I, uh, didn’t mind?” Jaehyun blinks, scratching the back of his head now. He still looks slightly bewildered and a little nervous, like someone who gets caught somewhere he’s not supposed to be. He clears his throat. “I wanted to watch it again.”

“Oh,” Marks says. “I didn’t know you like Pokemon so much.”

He thinks he hears Jaehyun say I don’t, but Jaehyun just took another mouthful bite. It’s also loud outside, so he dismisses the thought and they eat in silence.

  
  
  
  
  


The silence actually continues until they’re heading back to the campus.

Jaehyun looks distracted and possibly a little distressed the entire time, constantly checking his phone and seemingly texting someone. Mark doesn’t know if he can ask, doesn’t know if he should ask, but he does want to ask. So he does. “Are you okay?”

Jaehyun looks up at his phone to meet Mark’s gaze, and it’s like he just remembered that Mark is there. “I’m fine,” he says, shrugging as he pockets his phone. It lights up and vibrates again with a new incoming text, but Jaehyun ignores it and crosses his arm.

They’re already walking back towards their dormitories, and honestly Mark has no recollection of taking the train, transferring to a different line, then finding the right exit and making their way back to the campus. He only remembers following behind Jaehyun silently and looking at his back the whole time.

Stopping in front of Jaehyun, Mark takes a deep breath as he gathers all his courage to look straight into Jaehyun’s eyes and open his mouth. “Do you, um, hate me?” he asks, sounding a bit more sappy than he intended.

“What?” Jaehyun appears genuinely shocked, blinking repeatedly like a broken machine. “No! Of course not. What made you think so?”

“I don't know, but you’ve seemed so… _not here_ almost the entire night? Also the last time? You were so distant like your mind was somewhere else, and I can’t help thinking it’s either that you’re not enjoying this or you just don’t like me. Or both.” Okay, Mark definitely sounds close to tears. He looks away and stares at his dirty sneakers just in case he does end up teary, which would be the worst case scenario.

“I don’t,” says Jaehyun. “God, I don’t hate you. I don’t.” There's a couple of students walking down the pavement, and he waits until they’ve walked past and are out of earshot before he continues. “I was texting Doyoung.”

“Doyoung?” Doyoung is Jaehyun’s _ex_ , and although Mark knows that they’re still good friends (his _No Fear Shakespeare!_ book was originally Doyoung’s), he doesn’t quite understand why Jaehyun is texting him now.

“Yeah, I've been asking him for some… advice,” Jaehyun offers, but it’s not helping much. “Okay, look,” he starts again. “Here’s the thing. Since we went out the last time, I’ve been thinking about a lot of things. But most of all, I haven’t stopped thinking about… you and me.”

 _What_. His eyes widen in shock. He must have said it out loud because Jaehyun’s eyes widen too.

“Don’t get me wrong!” Jaehyun stammers, but then quickly adds: “Wait, that’s not what I mean either. Um, you see, ever since we went out that day, I’ve had some complicated feelings.”

“What kind of complicated feelings?” Mark asks like an idiot. He’s not sure if he’s really an idiot, considering that he did make it into a good university, but he does feel like an idiot right now.

“Like, when one day you realize that you have a crush on younger sibling. No, wait, that sounds wrong. What I want to say is—”

“Wait,” Mark intercepts, raising one hand. “Do you like me?”

His shoulders that were tense like he was holding up something drop as Jaehyun exhales. “Honestly, I don’t know. But I… think about you a lot, so I guess I do,” he says. “Do you?”

Mark blinks. “Do I like me?” he ponders the questions. “Uh, I don’t know. I never thought about it.”

Jaehyun laughs for what feels like the first time in thirty years. “No, silly. I mean do you like me?” he pauses and hesitates again. “Have you ever thought about it?”

“Oh.” Mark has thought about it. “Yeah, I actually do.”

Silence falls between them as they process the whole thing, whatever it is. All of a sudden, from a distance, they hear a saxophone playing. The music department is not in the area, so someone must be practicing somewhere. Mark doesn’t give it much thought until he realizes what song it is.

“Is that Careless Whisper?”

Jaehyun looks at him like he was going to say the same thing but for some reason didn’t, and Mark only figures out why when it’s already too late.

“Do you want to get some coffee?” Jaehyun asks instead. If the sun hadn’t gone down, Mark would’ve noticed the pink in his cheeks right now.

But even if it hadn’t, Mark would probably be too busy trying to hide his own reddened face to notice. “Yeah, coffee sounds good.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


 

 

“Wait,” Mark stops Jaehyun just when they reach the vacant cafe near their campus. “Just to clear things up, when you said you like me, you didn’t mean it in a _bro_ way, right?”

Jaehyun laughs again, more melodious than the last time. “Of course not.”

“Oh. Okay, cool,” Mark replies. He then notices a couple in the alleyway next to the cafe passionately making out, and does what he does best when faced with an awkward situation: “Hahaha.”

 

 


End file.
